Lubbicatiwor spindle-steps



UNTTED STATES PATENT @.EFTQE,

JOSEPH WELSH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

LUBRICATING SPINDLE-STEPS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,298, dated December 23, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JOSEPH farsi-r, of the city of Philadelphia, in theState of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and lmproved Mode ofLubricating the Spindles and Steps of Throttle Spinning-Machines; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecific-ation, in which- Figures l, and 2, are vertical longitudinalsections of a spindle and its usual accompaniments-the cap, tube andstep -with my invention applied thereto-the tube and step in Fig. l,being at its lowest position; while in Fig. 2, they are represented asbeing at their highest position, upon the spindle; Fig. 3, a sectionalelevation of the upper part of the spindle; and Fig. l, a likerepresentation of the lower part of the tube, in connection with avertical section of the spindle and steplike letters indicating the sameparts when on the different figures.

The lubrication of the spindles and steps of throttle spinners, hashitherto required two separate or distinct operations; viz. theapplication of the lubricant to each part, by a separate or distinctoperation-both, consuming time, and wasting oil. The usual mode ofproceeding is to stop the machine, every two hours, until the smalldepression at the top of each cap is supplied with oil; the machine isthen again put in motion, and the oil passes, in a few minutes, bygravitation, down through a small groove made in the outside of thespindle at its junction with the cap, and subsequently comes in contactwith the tube. The steps are in like manner supplied .with oil every twohours-but without stopping the whole machine. An improved mode haslately been patented by Messrs. Daugherty and McLaughlin, which in somedegree economizes time and oil in lubricating the spindles; but I am notaware that any advantage is derived thereby, over the old mode, afterthe oil has reached the upper end of the tube; which is the time whenthe most waste takes place. When a spinner is in full operation, thetube carrying the bobbin rotates upon the spindle about seven thousandtimes per minute, and as the oil, descending from above, comes incontact with the upper end of the tube nearly all of it is throwncentrifugally, against the inner side of the cap, leaving but a verysmall portion only adhering to the spindle, to serve the purpose of itslubrication; while that part of the step upon which the tube rotates isentirely untouched thereby, and therefore requires its lubricant to beapplied thereto by hand, as a distinct operation.

To obviate these defects incident to both the modes specified, is theobject of my invent-ion.

It consists in introducing the oil through the spindle directly to theinside of the tube, and conducting the surplus over what is consumed inthus lubricating the spindle, directly, by gravitation and thecentrifugalizing effect of the tube itself, so as to lubricate the faceof the step upon which the said tube rotates.

l will now proceed to describe its construction and inode of operation.Referring to the drawings, A, is the spindle; B, the step; C, the tube;and D, the cap.

The spindle and cap are constructed and connected together in the usualwell known manner, except that there is no groove made on the outer sideof the spindle as hitherto for the purpose of allowing the oil to passbelow; but instead thereof l bore out the center of the upper end of thespindle, so as to form a chamber (e) therein which is aboutthree-and-a-half inches deep and about three siXteenths of an inch indiameter; and then make a radial opening (f), of about one sixteenth ofan inch in diameter, leading from the bottom of the said chamber (e) tothe outside of the spindle. l now pack, by moderate pressure, asufficiency of raw cotton (g), or other suitably porous substance, intothe tube (e) so that it shall occupy about the whole of the lower halfof the same. This chamber (e) and outlet (f) constitute together, areservoir and conducting tube for the oil used as the lubricant.

The tube (C) is constructed in every respectin the usual well knownform, but instead of leaving its bottoni end a con tinuous annular planeas hitherto, I cut one or two grooves radially across it, as shown at L.This groove, or grooves, should be made about an eighth of an inch wide,and the sharp corners of the metal on each side thereof, rounded-offsmoothly. The depth need not be more than a sixteenth of an inch, andshould always be less than the depth of the usual depression which is inthe step. It forms a conductor for the surplus oil from the spindle tothe horizontal surface of the said step, during the rotatory mot-ion ofthe tube.

Operation: After the cotton or other porous packing` (g) has becomesaturated with the lubricant, and, before putting the spinner in motionin the morning of each day, the operator, with oil-can in hand, passesfrom one spindle to another of the frame and lills the chamber (e), withthe lubri-` cating oil. On the machine being now put in motion, the tube(C) rotates rapidly on the spindle, its upper bearing surface being alsoat the same time carried slowly up and down on the spindle about everytwo minutes, passing and repassing over 'the mouth of the outlet (f),and thus continually and abundantly lubricating all that part of thespindle over which it moves, and withdrawing also a surplus quantity forthe lower bearing surfaces of the tube in contact with the spindle andface of the step; which surplus, by gravitation down the recessed side(K) of the tube, reaches the said lower bearing surface of the same, andeventually, by the centrifugal tendency produced by the rotatory motionof the said tube, passes into the grooves (L, L,) thereof (the boundaryedge around the depression in the step preventing the said oil frombeing thrown out by the centrifugal force of the tube)-and therebylubricates the step. A small hole, bored obliquely upward through theside of the lower end of the tube; or a horizontal hole made radiallythrough the saine and connected with a conductor to prevent the oilsbeing thrown off by centrifugal action, wjill produce the same effect inoiling the step; but l prefer the groove or grooves (L, L,) as beingequally effectual, and more easy of construction.

The cotton (g) should be so packed in the chamber (e) as to prevent theoil from flowing freely by gravitation, but yet sufliciently loosely toallow the oil to be drawn, by the action of the tube (C), as freely asmay be required for lubricating both the spindle and step. As acriterion for judging on this point, I would observe that once fillingthe chamber (e) with oil in the morning as the old mode at every twohours; or, by the c later mode at each doffing-to say nothing of what isspilled in the operation of oiling from a can every two hours-andtherefore, a saving in the legitimate use of the oil alone of aboutfour-fifths)-but in the greater cleanliness and convenience incidentthereto. Another incidental advantage of some importance over the oldmode -of lubricating, arises from the fact that the oil becomes filteredin its passage through the cotton, and thus freed from all the gritwhich is usually acquired by exposure in the mill., and which causes arapid wearing away of the rubbing surfaces of the spindles and tubes.

The cost of boring the spindles and grooving the end of the tubes is buttriiing.

I do not claim introducing the oil, through the spindle, directly to theinside of the tube, as set forth and described herein; nor do I claimanything contained in the patent of E. W. VelCh, dated January 28th,1840; nor anything in the applications of Joseph Turner, and of E. S.VebSter, rejected respectively in 1848 and 1849-but "What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Making the groove, or grooves (L) or their equivalents, at the lower endof the tube (C) so as to conduct thereby during the rotatory motion ofthe said tube, the surplus oil from the spindle (A), to the horizontalface of the step (B), substantially in the manner and for the purposeset forth and described.

JOSEPH WELSH.

Vitnesses BEN. MonrsoN, JNO. B. KENNEY.

